General Information About Guardianship

Many parents living overseas wish to educate their children in the UK or Ireland. As these parents are not resident in theese countries, under British law (the Children Acts 1980 & 1989) and Irish law each child receiving full-time education (more than 12 weeks) must have a legally appointed guardian. The legal reasons for this are:

• The child must have someone who will bear all responsibility for him/her whilst abroad, and this person must be legally appointed by the parents
• This guardian has the power to make decisions regarding emergency medical treatment / operations if required
• The guardian has the duty to represent the interests of the child in the court of England and Wales or the court of Ireland, in the Immigration Offices, police and other legal institutions
• The guardian must provide the child with a place to live in case of illness, suspension or expulsion from school
• The host family should arrange Public Liability Insurance cover of not less than one million pounds (GBP 1,000,000)

In addition to the above legal reasons, a British/Irish guardian is also essential to carry out the following duties connected with the child's stay at school:

• To represent the child's best interests with the school authorities in the case of academic or pastoral problems
• At the start of the academic year various items must be purchased for the child i.e. school uniform, books and equipment, name tags for clothing, bedding, telephone card
• Travel arrangements must be made for the child at the start and end of term, for exeat weekends and over half terms
• Legal documents such as visas must be kept up to date and renewed as and when necessary
• The child's finances must be supervised to ensure that the child has adequate funds for daily expenses and that school bills received at the end of each term are paid

The choice of guardian is entirely the parents'. In the case of overseas parents who have no personal contacts in the UK/Ireland willing to act as guardian for their child, there are professional guardianship agencies which will undertake these responsibilities. Without such a guardian who can carry out all of the above requirements, it is not possible to educate a child from overseas in British or Irish schools.